Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Off to the East

You've probably noticed this, but the name of my blog is from L.A. to LA. But I've never actually talked about how I wound up moving from Los Angeles to Louisiana. So I figured I'd start that story, except I can't jump straight to Louisiana, because I didn't move strait from California to Louisiana.

I've already talked about going to high school in California. And I've said I went to college in Maryland. But never really explained why I took the first jump across country.

And honestly, for most of my life I expected to stay in California. Up through the start of my senior year of high school my number one choice for college was UC Santa Barbara. But by the time I actually started filling out applications I changed my mind, and decided I wanted to go to the East Coast. I'm not sure why I made the decision. I think part of me pictured the east coast as something similar to a movie college experience. I think the idea of being able to start over completely also intrigued me. There was also the fact that if I went to a huge Division I California state school I wouldn't be able to play soccer. And if I went to a small Division 3 school on the east coast I would be able to.

But since I had decided on the east coast so late in the game, I didn't do a lot of research. I only applied to two east coast schools. One that was kind of small, but a well known for its sciences. They other which was a tiny liberal arts school. Although thinking back, I might not have really decided for sure on the east coast until I had already applied. Its weird what you forget about 7 years. And crazy to think its been 7 years since I graduated high school.

But luckily for me, I got in to both of the east coast school I applied for. (I actually got into all of the California schools I applied to as well. Except for Berkeley, but I never really wanted to go there, so it wasn't a problem for me.) I'm not sure now I can pin point the exact reason why I choose the school I did out of those two. Part of it had to do with money as most college decisions do. Part of it had to do with the fact that I was assured a spot on the soccer team at one school. And the other part of it? I'm not quite sure what it was. But yes, I did pick the small liberal arts school, and I think it wound up being a better decision than I could have ever known at the time!

Next time I might have the next part of my journey. Or I might make you guys wait a little longer for it. We'll see... but while were on the topic, how did you pick where you went to college? Was it where you always expected or did you have a last minute change of heart?

~Shoshanah

9 comments:

  1. I'm totally left in suspense! I wanna know what liberal arts school you went to in Maryland! I have family up there and would spend my entire summers there. I'm wondering if it's one of the ones I know!!!!

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  2. I don't really know where different states are in the U.S. so when you say East and West it helps me :P haha.

    Anyways, I have always been on the WEST coast of Canada, I've never even travelled East. The first college I went to was only three hours from my hometown and that was because it was a good college and close to home, I wasn't ready to move far away yet. Now, I've moved across the province and I'm about 12 hours away from home and the reason for that is because it was the only school in B.C, and one of only two in western Canada for that matter, that offered a journalism degree!

    Looking forward to hearing the rest of your story :-)

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  3. There's only two state colleges in Oregon and one didn't have the degree in what I wanted....so I chose the other one and it turned out great! I didn't want to go out of state and pay that much in tuition and i was also a little weary of moving too far away from the safety and security of my friends and family. All in all, I made the right decision and I'm so happy to be graduating! yay!

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  4. I stayed in NY due to a jerk boyfriend at the time who only wanted me to commute to school so he could control me better. Luckily I wound up loving my school, broke up with the loser before first semester even started, and then became an RA so I lived on campus for free for the next three years. Thankfully it all worked out, but if I had to go back, I may have gone away instead. Cest la vie!

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  5. Hi, I found you via 20sb!
    I always thought I would stay on the West Coast because it's just who I am, but by my senior year I HAD to leave Oregon or I was going to go stir crazy! I actually found my tiny liberal arts college that nobody had/has ever heard of in a magazine :)
    The recruited me hard and treated me like a person and not a number. I went off of gut instinct, paid my deposit in September of my senior year, and that was history!
    I moved to Iowa for college and it was culture shock, but in a good way. I'm back in CA now, but it's still fun to think of the process of getting where I am.
    Can't wait to hear the rest of your story!

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  6. I haven't visited the southern part of the US yet so whenever you talk about, you just really make me want to just book a plane ticket!! Can't wait to hear more! :)

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  7. I only applied to California schools because I was just too afraid to pack up a move across country. I dreamed of going somewhere far away, like New York, and even considered Ithaca College for a while, which was very random, but I ended up just applying to a handful of UC schools, Pepperdine and Westmont. I got into most of the UC's, except Berkeley and UCLA, and Westmont. but not Pepperdine! I didn't do early decision and so I got wait listed. that's right. so sad. So I accepted Westmont's offer and even enrolled and just a month before the semester was about to start I called up the admissions office and told them, nevermind! let me tell you, my parents were not thrilled. but I just felt like it wasn't the right fit for me. (oh, btw, I had stayed on the Pepperdine waiting list through all this...). I ended up going to a community college my first semester (which made my parents mad because around here, people that go to that community college tend to not graduate or take 6 years to do so...) BUT then I got accepted for the spring at Pepperdine. yay! so that's how that went.

    woah, that was a long comment. but you asked! :)

    thanks for sharing your story, at least the first part anyway!

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  8. I went to a school that was only 30 minutes from my hometown. Sometimes I wished I would have gone further away but I wanted a school instate for the tuition and I knew I wanted to go to a big university so that didn't leave too many options for me.
    I'm very happy with my education and love my college, but I'm glad I finally experienced moving far away from home after college!
    Good for you for being brave enough to move across country! It's hard!

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  9. I've been lazy at blogging lately...oops. Loved this post though...I always wondered about your cute title! I went to school at Oregon State. The decision to avoid any debt crushed me a little deep down. I worked my tail off in HS to go to a Cal school, and I settled. Funny thing is I ended up in CA anyway! Will be a better blogger from now on!

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